At the night of the opening ceremony, all the athletes, delegates, special guests, the Olympic staffs and the audiences representing their countries respectively joined together to usher the arrival of the 2008 Olympic Games. Their spirits were high incorporating with the high aims and dreams to fulfill the ultimate goals which would definitely bring fame and name globally for their represented countries.

The 29th Beijing Summer Olympic Opening Ceremony's countdown began at the National Stadium (also known as the Bird's Nest) located in north Beijing, China, on August 8, 2008.

(Photo credit: Adam Pretty/ Getty Images)

The Chinese flag with five yellow stars was escorted by representatives of 56 tribes in China.

(Photo credit: Sohu)

The Chinese flag was carried by a troop of soldiers who walked neatly showing their endless patriotism to China.

(Photo credit: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

The Chinese flag was hosted smoothly as the Chinese National Anthem was played during the opening ceremony for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games at the National Stadium.

(First photo credit: XinHua)

(Second photo credit: Vladimir Rys/Bongarts/Getty Images)

The Olympic flag was escorted into the National Stadium.

(Photo credit: XinHua)

TheOlympic flag was raised next to the Chinese national flag.

(Photo credit: XinHua)

Li Ning, the former gymnastics champion of China, carried along the Olympic flame while he was lifted to the air.

(First photo credit: XinHua)

(Second Photo credit: www. Beijing2008.cn)

Li Ning mustered all his courage and effort to “run” through his final destination: cauldron.

(Photo credit: XiaoMing)

Li Ning finally reached his destination. He paused for a while before lighting up the cauldron, marking the official commencement of the 29th Beijing Summer Olympic Games.

(First photo credit: Sohu)

(Second photo credit: XinHua)

The cauldron eventually lit up. Its fire “crawled” with its high spirit to soar as high as it could, highlighting the good start of the commencement of the Olympic Games in Beijing, China.

(Photo credit: WeiXiang)

At the night, a day on August 8, 2008, the Bird's Nest was sparkling with gorgeous fireworks. All the people from different races, religions and nationalities gathered here to cheer the arrival of the Olympic with the utmost joyous spirits.

(Photo credit: Jonathan Wong)

The sky of the Beijing was lighted up with extremely beautiful fireworks. It was an amazingly spectacular photo ever captured!

(Photo credit: Jonathan Wong)

These were another spectacular views of the fireworks went off the top of the Bird's Nest during the opening ceremony.

(First photo credit: Olympia)

(Second photo credit: Sohu)

These fireworks formed up numerous spectacular trees suspending high up the sky. While looking at this photo, I was moving with the scene, and some tears were rolling out from my eye sockets.

(Photo credit: WeiXiang)

Tonight, the sky of Beijing was bespangled with unexpectedly magnificient fireworks. Some comet looked like fireworks were merged with some dandelion looked like fireworks. All the eyes in the stadium were sparkled with joy.

(photo credit: XiaoMing)

Wow, amazing shooting up fireworks exploded over the sky! Have you seen them before? They were indeed marvelous and amazing!

(Photo credit: Olympia)

Wow, another spectacular view at the Bird's Nest which turned the entire Beijing into a merry land!

(Photo credit: ChenGong)

This cultural show was about The Silk Road, or Silk Route, which reflects the ancient Chinese history. Historically, the Silk Road had been the main trade route connecting West and East Asia via regions of the Asian continent.

(Photo credit: ChenGong)

This performance presented the sailing boats which reflected the development of the civilization of China as the important route to venture into other civilizations of Persia, Arabia, India, ome, Egypt, and Byzantium. 6oo years ago, that was during the reign of Dinasty Ming, Zhenghe led seven voyages consisting of 27,000 people to carry out his diplomacy task. His first exploration started from Quanzhou of China to as far as the region of East Africa and thus it was later popularized as “Silk Road on the Sea.”

(Photos credit: Sohu)

A view on the performance on “Chinese character” by the performers. The Chinese characters or Hanzhi in Chinese, is one of the oldest characters in the word which carry the underlying meaning of the Chinese culture and civilization.

(Photo credit: CCTV)

This was the vew of the performance on “movable-type printing” which represented the “ancient Chinese keyboard.” It reflected the evolution of the Hanzhi or Chinese characters from the past until now.

(First photo credit: Sohu)

(Second photo credit: Mike Hewitt/ Getty Images)

This performance symbolized 3,000 students of Confucious. The performers were reciting the “Analects of Confucius” or Lunyu in Chinese. Of all, one of the phrases recited was “We're all brothers no matter where we are.” (“sihaizhinei, jiexiongdiye” in Chinese). (the first photo). His students had bamboo books holding in their hands with Confucious's sayings engraved on the texts (the second photo).

(First photo credit: CCTV)

(Second photo credit: Sohu)

Tai chi, a soft Chinese martial art, is a form of meditation (or meditation in motion) that is primarily practised for its health benefits, particurlarly when dealing with tension and stress. Tai chi which was originated from two important philosophical texts of Tao De Ching and I Ching emphasizes the thorough relaxation, characterizing by its slow, and soft movements rather than brute strength. Its history dated back to about the 2nd millennium b.c. and it was then developed by a Taoist monk, Chang Sand Feng to be known as Tai Chi. A man named Yang learnt Tai Chi developed by Chen family and subsequently modified it as the Yang style of Tai Chi Chuan which is the most common traditional style of Tai Chi Chuan practised up to now. According to the Chinese practitioners, one becomes ill as the flow of “chi” (or simply translated as “breath” in English) throughout the body is being blocked or trapped. And thus tai chi is a form of spiritual and physical meditation that promotes the smooth flow of “chi” for the ultimate effect of the natural harmony, natural balance of self and world as designated by its symbol “.”

(Photos credits: AP)

Chinese Opera (or xiqu in Chinese) is a well-known drama and musical theatre in China, in which its stories were taken from the high literate value of historical novels (such as Zajuin the Yuan Dynasty) about the society, political and even military struggles. Of all the regional branches of operas, the Beijing opera is the most popular one. This drama potrays the acting of footwork, gestures and other body movements as expressed in riding a horse, opening a door or rowing a boat accompanying with the colloquial speech. The opera was evolved from dances, talking, antimasque, folk songs incorporating with taditional instruments like the gong, lute, and Erhu.

The first opera school (with its poetic name as “Liyuan”, or “pear garden” in English) was established by the Emperor Taizong during the reign of Tang Dynasty (618 -907). Later, during the Yuan Dynasty (1271 - 1368), the opera was officially regarded by the court officials and the emperors as one of the traditional arts among the Chinese community. For Chinese, particularly the older folks, listening and watching opera is the utmost pleasure. This Chinese opera was then developed in a fashionable form among the ordinary people during the reign of the Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1911) and the performances were made so common in restaurants, makeshift stages, and even the tearooms. Up to now, there are as many as 300 opera styles being developed according to regions and locality.

(Photos credit: Beijinghome)

A stunning performance by 2008 drummers at the National Stadium during the opening ceremony for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics which won them thunderous applauses from the audience.

(Photos credit: Nakamura)

The Olympic-ring illuminated amidst a plain color background with a halo-like glow, forming a marvelous picture that worth to flame in your photo album.

(Photo credit: Alexander Hassenstein/Bongarts/Getty Images)

The dancers performed flips and other gymnastic feats around the gigantic globe with its show entitled “Beautiful Olympics”, which reflecting its theme of “One world, one dream.”

(Photos credit: XinHua)

The painting scroll symbolizes the development and origin of the Chinese culture and history. It is a white paper with an area of 20x 11m, 20cm in thickness and weighed in approximately 800 kg.

(Photo credit: Beijinghome)

The painting scroll was gradually opened, telling people that everything would be started with its content. In the middle of the painting scroll, there lay a piece of paper, representing that the paper was one of the inventions in the ancient China. The patterns and designs of the painting scroll highlighted the flow of the Chinese origin from rock paintings, pottery and bronze….and its history went up to many dynastical reigns.

(Photo credit: Sohu)

Dancers used their body languages to perform on the scroll, which emphasized the underlying unique features and styles of the painting scroll.

(Photo credit: Adam Pretty/Getty Images)

These footprints fireworks were named as the “Footprints of History”, symbolizing the pace of the successive summer Olympic Games.

(Photo credit: XinHua)

September 11, 2001

On the morning of September 11, 2001, my wife sent me an e-mail and told me that a plane had just crashed into the World Trade Center. Like so many other Americans on that September morning, I thought it was an accident. What person, what kind of people, would do such a thing intentionally?

But, then I turned on the TV just in time to see the second plane hit the Towers and I knew it was no accident. It was a deliberate act of terror, designed to frighten and belittle us. This was something that no single nation state could hope to do; it was only something that we could be pushed into doing to ourselves.

Yet, what that act of terror could have gone a different way. You see, what they did on that day was try and destroy a dream. A dream that is something we here in the United States take for granted, but that the rest of the world sees quite clearly.

The Dream

The United States is many things to many people. Some see us as a cultural invader, breaking down traditional values with our movies, our products and our arrogance. But, that cultural invasion is also, perhaps, our enduring legacy. From the windswept Tibetan Plateau to the Siberian Taiga and from the vast plains of the Serengeti to the Amazonian rainforest, the dream that is America exists. Bantu tribesmen in Africa wear Coca-Cola t-shirts while never having tasted that wonderful, decadent drink. Poor fishermen in Indonesia listen to American music while they fish in a way that would be recognizable a thousand years ago. Vietnamese sit in poorly ventilated theatres to watch American movies with sub-titles, while they drink Pepsi-Cola and wish upon a star.

For all of these people and more, America is a dream. For millions, if not billions, of people around the world, cowboys still ride the vast American West. For them, if they can make it in New York, they can make it anywhere. For them, America is a land of vast spaces, unimaginable wealth, peace, prosperity and where the streets are paved with gold. It's a land of freedom, the rule of law, justice, and equality. Where, if a person is willing to work, anything can be dreamed and anything can be achieved.

Out greatest gift to the world is not our military. It is not the concept of freedom, justice and the rule of law. To most people on Earth, those concepts are simply without context. They are meaningless. But to dream? Ah that, that is our greatest gift to the world and that is something that I think, perhaps, we have lost sight of in the years since 9-11. That hope to dream was what the terrorists were trying to destroy.

Hope

You see, America is ultimately about hope. It is ultimately about being able to dream impossible dreams and see them realized. We luxuriate in our vast wealth and power, forgetting that America itself is not the envy of the world, but its hope. We forget that America is the realization of that overwhelming human need to be free to hope. That is what America is to the world. But, that isn't what the United States means to the world. The United States is a country that oppresses people, tells people what to do and then doesn't follow through on those things itself. The United States flag is the flag that the people of Iran burn, not the flag of America. The flag of America is not the Stars and Stripes. The flag of America is Coca-Cola red, Ford blue and IBM computer white, laid in full upon a field of hopes, dreams and the realization that in America, anything, anything at all, is possible.

I wonder why we Americans seem to have forgotten that?

The biased host would then turn to Hillary and ask why she lies. Sen. Clinton would then volley some spaced out response and verify it with that famous Clinton smile. The American public doesn't always pay attention, but when they do nothing gets by them. Even Bush is learning that.

After asking Obama why he doesn't wear a flag pen (which is crucial for the economy), we got to hear about real issues on taxes and bringing the troops home. Issues that have been beat to death in the last dozen debates.

Also, is the issue of hand guns top priority for the Democrats? So the attack on Obama's past gun stance was just another jab at the side. Anyone that knows south Chicago, knows that a representative needs to be conservative when approaching gun laws.
Some folks in the media want to perpetuate the thought that this debate will affect Obama in the negative. But, look at what some bloggers posted in response on MSNBC:
"That wasn't a debate it was an ABC news hatchet job for Hillary Clinton to marginalize [on]

Barack Obama." blogged by Frannie on MSNBC.
Obama was totally shaken by the hostile moderators and Hillary just confirmed my opinion of her as the vilest politician outside of Bush [I have] ever seen." sent by Amy from Maine.
Even David Corn chief of "Mother Jones" found a lot of the questions null and void.
At the end of that bullish display, what do I know about the candidates' proposals? At this point I know more about the people making contributions to Obama than I do my financial security after the next election.